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Q & A with Christopher West

Posted on: January 20, 2013 by Image Books

Enjoy this Q&A with Christopher West about his new book, Fill These Hearts.

Christopher West is a renowned educator, best-selling author, cultural commentator, and popular theologian who specializes in making the dense scholarship of the late Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body accessible to a wide audience. His extensive global lecturing, his numerous books and articles, and his multiple educational programs have sparked an international groundswell of interest in the late pope’s teaching across denominational lines.

Q & A with Christopher West, Author of Fill These Hearts by Image Books

POPE 101 PART 3: The Writings of Benedict XVI

Posted on: November 26, 2012 by Image Books

By Bianca M. Caraza

Even before his papacy, his holiness was considered an influential and significant theologian and academic within the Church. In April of 2005 (prior to his ascension to the papacy) Time magazine named him among the top 100 most influential people in the world. His reputation is well-deserved, always a scholastic individual, his holiness speaks German, his native tongue, English, Italian, and Latin.

His holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Photo Courtesy of Turn Back to God website.

Early in his life, his holiness pursued the path of an academic, obtaining several degrees. According to the Vatican website, after completing seminary, he studied theology and philosophy at the Higher School of Philosophy and Theology of Freising and the University of Munich. He later earned a doctorate in theology with his thesis, “People and House of God in St Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church.” Next, he wrote a dissertation on “The Theology of History in St Bonaventure,” to qualify for his professorship. He then proceeded to teach at a number of universities, including the University of Regensburg, where he acted as the Chair of dogmatics and the history of dogma.

In 1972, his holiness, along with Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac, made one of his largest contributions to the Catholic community by founding Communio, a now-international quarterly Catholic journal. In a Zenit interview with David Schindler, the journal’s current editor, he defined Communio as “seek[ing] to recover the nature of the Church as a communion of persons.” After being named prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981, Cardinal Ratzinger could no longer be involved in the journal as he had once been. However, he has since has been a faithful contributor, publishing work in Communio such as his writings on the theology of the Marian doctrine and an “Introduction to Christianity,” which explains Christianity’s mission to provide a Christ-centered doctrine in light of modern times. In the aforementioned interview, Schindler spoke of his holiness as having a “childlike wonder about him,” and describing his amazing humility which “enables him to speak with such courage in defense of the truth.”

In addition to his many accomplishments, degrees, and books, his holiness has received many honorary doctorates over the years: from the Catholic University of Lima, the Faculty of Theology of the University of Wrocław in Poland, and several more. Among his many books are Charity in Truth, Maria, on the Mother of God, and Jesus of Nazareth, a three-volume series of meditations on the life of Christ and its modern day relevance to the Catholic faith. The third and final volume, The Infancy Narratives, which focuses on the childhood of the messiah, is now available from Image Books.

Thank you for reading and learning with us! We hope you’ve enjoyed our series on his holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.

EXCERPT: Fill These Hearts by Christopher West

Posted on: October 23, 2012 by Image Books

The bestselling author, speaker, and teacher of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body explores the yearning we all have for God and each other.

Fill These Hearts is a book about desire. Not trivial wants or superficial cravings, but the most vital powers of body and soul, sexuality and spirituality, that haunt us and compel us on our search for something. Weaving life-altering lessons together from classical and contemporary art, pop music, movies, and the Christian mystical tradition, popular theologian Christopher West explores the ancient but largely forgotten idea that the restless, erotic yearnings we feel in both our bodies and our spirits reveal the cry of our hearts for God. Along the way, West blows the lid off the idea of Christianity as a repressive, anti-sex religion by demonstrating that Christ came to stretch and inflame our desire for love and union to the point of infinity.

Fill These Hearts by Christopher West (Chapter 1)

MASS 101 PART 12: The End and the Beginning

Posted on: October 7, 2012 by Image Books

On November 27, 2011, the new Roman Missal translation was launched in our Mass celebrations. For our final portion of Mass 101, we will look at the Blessing and Dismissal portion of that Mass, alongside Cardinal Wuerl and Mike Aquilina.

Did you know…

Mass takes its name from the final words of the celebration, the dismissal. “Ite, missa est.” (“Go forth, the Mass is ended.”)
Pope Benedict XVI believes the abrupt ending to Mass is modeled after Luke 24, where Jesus meets with the disciples after meeting the men on the road to Emmaus. The men, not recognizing him as Christ, invited him to eat with them. It was only after he “took bread, broke it, and gave it to them” that they realized who he was. (Luke 24:30) “Then he vanished from their sight, and they were left to tell the good news to their fellow disciples. They ‘set out at once’ for Jerusalem (Luke 24:33).” (The Mass p. 205)
The Mass ends as it begins: with the Sign of the Cross.

Read Luke 24 and the scene described above, and consider our own similarities with the disciples. Do we not often enter into Mass distracted by our own concerns and burdens, only to be greeted by Christ in the Eucharist? Are we not refreshed by his presence, and then sent—almost abruptly, but no less purposefully—to tell the world of his love and forgiveness?

Cardinal Wuerl says this:

“What we receive in Mass we must now take into the world. The challenging thing about Christian faith is that we cannot hold on to it unless we give it away—unless we share it with others. We have received Christ, and he as mingled his flesh with ours. His blood courses through us and gives life to our bodies—gives his life to our bodies! We become his face and voice and hands and feet as we walk out into the crowded sidewalks, as we return to our homes and neighborhoods, and we report for another workday.” (p. 206)

May the grace and peace of Christ be with you!

Go forth, the Mass is ended.
Thanks be to God!

Thank you for celebrating and learning more about the Mass with us! We hope you enjoyed Mass 101.

MASS 101 PART 11: Holy Communion

Posted on: September 30, 2012 by Image Books

This portion of the Mass is truly what the entire celebration is about. And while much of the Mass can have an elaborate nature—with exalted language, a beautiful setting, and the richness of tradition—this most central act of the Mass, the Holy Communion, is both profound and beautiful in its simplicity.

As quoted by Cardinal Wuerl in The Mass:

“Each communicant bows reverently while approaching the priest.
The priest holds up a host and says, ‘The body of Christ.’
The communicant says, ‘Amen,’ and receives Jesus.” (p. 192)

This simple rite has been preserved since the earliest centuries of the Church. Even in the fourth century, Saint Ambrose described the rite exactly as it is today: “The priest says to you, ‘The body of Christ.’ And you say, ‘Amen.’”

Just as the rite is beautiful in its simplicity, it is powerful in that we receive the body and blood of Jesus.

“Christ, after all, is fully present…[we] receive all of Jesus and all the grace of the sacrament.” (p. 195)

Come back next Sunday for the final Mass 101, Mass 101 Part 12: The End and the Beginning!

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